Monday’s power outage that hit various sections of GPL’s transmission network, left communities in the dark and prompted concerns about essential services.
The Guyana Power and Light (GPL) in a release on Monday, explained that the root cause of the outage was a result of damage inflicted on the L3 Transmission Line, a crucial link in the power distribution network operated by the utility.
According to the release, at approximately 12:03 pm on Monday, an incident occurred in the Friendship backdam area which resulted in substantial damage to the transmission line, which serves as a vital conduit between the Golden Grove substation and the Garden of Eden power plant. As a result, disruptions were experienced in the following areas: Good Hope to Enmore, East Coast Demerara; Nandy Park to Grove, East Bank Demerara; and Seafield to Colombia, West Coast Berbice.
Officials from the utility quickly mobilised their technical teams to assess the extent of the damage and initiated reparative measures. As of yesterday, power was restored to most communities, however some communities, especially on the west coast and west bank of Berbice are still experiencing outages.
In a public advisory, GPL assured its consumers that its teams were working assiduously to rectify the fault at the substation. It also informed that other critical works were being completed at Aubrey Barker Road to the Mandela Avenue Roundabout which will result in further power outages.
As was expected, the power outage triggered a slew of complaints from consumers since the outage impacted homes, businesses, and essential services that depend on reliable electricity. Medical facilities, communication systems, and transportation networks have been hit particularly hard, raising concerns about public safety.
Affected residents and businesses expressed frustration and apprehension at the unscheduled power outage, and the inability to carry out normal tasks. The incident has since prompted discussions about GPL’s need for enhanced preventive measures to mitigate future disruptions in the power supply.
The general public is advised to contact GPL before engaging in any activities near the network cables since incidents of this nature can cause unnecessary service disruption to customers.
